


The Best Day

by ChickenParmaJeanValjean



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Awkward! Holtz, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Kevin knows literally everyone, Taylor Swift is a minor character, cooking!, stage fright, subtle things for all the ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-06 20:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10343889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChickenParmaJeanValjean/pseuds/ChickenParmaJeanValjean
Summary: The Ghostbusters are invited to walk on stage with Taylor Swift at her concert, friendly fluff ensues.





	1. Sweeter Than Fiction

**Author's Note:**

> This idea was lurking in the shadows of my mind for awhile so I decided to finally write it down! Honestly, this is just a whole lot of cute friendship stuff based on a kind of ridiculous concept. The chapters get longer as the story goes on, but the first two will be pretty short.

The call had come earlier in the morning, but Kevin had forgotten to tell them until halfway through lunch. They were eating take-out when “Shake it Off” came on the radio. Kevin paused, put down his fork and stared off into the distance.

“Got something to say, Kev?” Abby asked.

Suddenly it came to him.

“Ah yes,” he put his pointer finger in the air and cleared his throat, “Taylor Swift called, and uh, she wants to meet you guys.”

Erin nearly choked on her food.

“You mean Taylor Swift wants to meet _us_?” Erin gasped.

“Yup” Kevin answered, seemingly unfazed by the fact that the biggest name in music had requested a meeting. He shrugged and went back to eating his sweet and sour tofu.

“Oh my god, what am I going to say to her?” Erin’s mind was already excitedly buzzing with ideas. She could feel her heart rate increase tenfold as she began to formulate what she would say to the actual legend herself, Taylor Swift.

Erin wasn’t necessarily anxious about meeting Taylor, but she wanted to have some sort of plan to impress her. It wasn’t like Erin to get stressed about meeting new people. Her conversation planning spawned more from excitement than anything else. She took pleasure in imagining a million different scenarios until she would eventually become focused on the ideal version of any given event. That’s not to say that she ever followed through with her plans. Most of Erin’s human encounters consisted of heavy improvisation, only some of which was cringeworthy.

Holtzmann kicked her feet up onto the table, but immediately put them back down when Erin shot her a “we are eating at this table and I am so not here for your germs” kind of look.

“Eh, I’m not a huge fan” Holtz said, blowing a loose piece of hair out of her face.

“Neither am I, but you have to admit, this is a huge deal you guys” Abby looked back at Kevin, “When and where? Did you get a number?”

“Mhm, of course I did boss” Kevin said with his mouth full.

“Swallow then talk” Patty told him. He responded by smiling at her, mouth still full of food. Patty rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes, “You are so lucky we like you, Kevin.”

Kevin swallowed before continuing, “She wants you guys to come to her concert this weekend. Said something about you walking with her on stage.”

“She wants us to walk with her, like, on the stage? You mean during the show?” Erin’s eyes went wide.

“Ha! That’s awesome!” Patty clapped, smiling.

“Did you say yes?” Erin asked excitedly.

“I think so” Kevin said.

“Kevin buddy, you gotta be sure about these things. I’ll call to confirm after we’re done eating, the number should still be in the call log” Abby shook her head and laughed, “Taylor Swift huh? That’s insane. Just a few months ago we were working out of a Chinese restaurant.”

“Look at where we are, look at where we started” Erin half mumbled, half sang.

“Erin, if you reference Hamilton one more time today I’m going to lose it” Patty said.

Erin had been on a Hamilton kick ever since they’d been given tickets to the show last month. Those tickets were only one of the perks of their newfound fame. People were constantly offering them free stuff, and no one was complaining.

“Yeah,” Holtzmann sighed, “I might have to pass on this one.”

“Why baby? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity” Patty said.

“I don’t know,” Holtz continued, “seems like a sellout.”

“Oh come on Holtzmann! You have to do it!” Abby insisted, “You were all for our little Hamilton night last month.”

“Yeah, but this just feels like... too much” she said cautiously, being careful not to make eye contact with anyone.

“I’m going with or without you.” Erin said quickly, not thinking about how it might’ve sounded to Holtzmann.

“Thanks, Erin” Holtzmann said, annoyed.

“Oh shut up Holtz, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Look, I just don’t know if I want to be up there with all those people watching.”

“You were fine at that metal concert when we caught our first ghost” Erin pointed out.

“Yeah, but that was different. We were catching ghosts up there and like, I’m _good_ at that”

“It’s fine Holtz, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to” Abby told her, seeing now what her real reservations were.

“Yeah, sorry” Erin added after a pause that was long enough to make her comment seem like a side note. Truthfully, she just didn’t know what the best thing to say was.

Holtzmann sighed.

“Well, I want to go” Patty said cheerfully, bringing back the positive energy of the news.

Abby put the lid on her soup and got up to put the leftovers in the fridge, “I think this could be a lot of fun” she said as she walked away.

Erin reached across the table and squeezed Patty’s hand.

“I’m so excited!” she squealed.

“Baby, me too” Patty laughed.

“So in all seriousness, should I say hi or hello when we first meet Taylor?” she asked.

“I don’t think it’s going to matter that much”

“You’re right.”

Holtz shook her head and smiled. She was happy for them. They were going to have fun at the concert. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t interested, this was a great opportunity for her friends.

“Holtzmann, what do you think?” Erin turned to her, noticing the sudden positive shift in her mood.

“I think you should start with something that adds a little jazz to the conversation. For example, ‘sup’ establishes that you’re relaxed and ready to have a good time” Holtz joked.

“Sounds good” Erin laughed as Abby walked back into the room.

“Alright,” Abby put her hands on her hips and looked at the team, “I guess I’ll go make that call now.”

Patty reached out and gave Erin a high five, “We’re walking with Taylor Swift!”

“I can’t believe this honestly...Taylor Swift!” Abby said as she walked towards the phone, “Holtz, if you change your mind just let me know!”

“Will do!” Holtzmann called out.

“Why don’t you come to the concert and just not walk?” Erin asked her. “It’s not like we’re going to be up on stage the entire time.”

“I didn’t think about that, hm.”  

“It’s gonna be a good time Holtzy, you should come. You don’t have to walk if you’re not comfortable doing it” Patty assured her.

Holtzmann nodded in agreement. The concert _would_ be fun and at the very least, she would get to see her friends have the time of their lives.

“Abby!” Holtz yelled.

“Yeah?” Abby’s voice came from the other room.

“Mark me down as a yes for the show, a no for the walk.”

“You got it!” Abby answered.

They all sat there just smiling at each other for a minute. Kevin was picking at what was left of his lunch. He didn’t seem to care about what was going on, but Kevin was weird about what he chooses to put his energy towards.

Erin broke the silence.

“Do you think jeans would be better, or a dress? I think-” She began, starting to cycle through the trivial details again. She couldn’t help herself, she was too excited.

“Baby, we’ll figure it out later, just take it in for a minute” Patty interrupted.

“You’re right... I think I’ll wear jeans.”

“Sounds good” Patty said, and then she turned to Holtzmann, “I’m glad you’re coming Holtzy.”

Holtz smiled.

“Me too, should be fun.”


	2. Style

The rest of the afternoon consisted of constant concert chatter and planning. The concert was on Saturday, so the team had three and a half days to plan whatever they were going to plan.

“I don’t think we need to do anything special” Abby said, “I spoke to Taylor’s mom, Andrea I think, and she said it’s pretty casual. Taylor will introduce us, and we’ll walk down the catwalk with her."

Patty raised an eyebrow at Abby.

"Fancy, I know, but then we’re done.” Abby continued.

“Do we get to dance?” Erin asked.

“I’m sure you can, just try not to embarrass yourself. Remember that there’ll be thousands of people with cameras, and anything you do will probably end up on YouTube.”

“We all remember what happened last time you were on YouTube” Holtz added with a snort.

“Holtz that’s not funny” Erin said defensively, “I lost my job because of that.”

“But now you’re here so…”

“That doesn’t make it any less humiliating. I had to do the ultimate professional walk of shame. Do you know how that feels?”

Abby glanced over at Patty, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

“So Patty, what do you think you’re going to wear?” Abby asked her.

“I don’t know yet, but I was thinking color coordinating our outfits might be cute” Patty told her.

“Ooh, we could be like a ‘squad’.” Abby said, and Patty looked at her, confused. “That’s what they call us on YouTube” Abby explained.

“You still read the comments on YouTube?” Erin asked her.

“Uh yeah? Someone has to fire back at those assholes who think they can say whatever the hell they want with no consequences”

“Abby, you really shouldn’t be arguing with trolls” Patty said, shaking her head.

“Trolls argue with me” Abby shot back.

“Okay, whatever you say” Patty shifted the conversation back to the concert, “So I was thinking maybe black or green or both?”

“Green? Isn’t that like a total fashion nightmare?” Erin said.

“Yeah, but like, the slime? Ghostbusters? You feel me?”

“I guess. Maybe we get black t-shirts with our logo and wear jeans?” Erin suggested.

“That’s actually a really good idea” Abby said.

“Yeah, but where are we going to get custom t-shirts from in less than a week?” Patty asked.

“I know a guy” Kevin chimed in from his desk.

“You do?” Abby said, surprised. Kevin’s weird connections never ceased to amaze her.

“Yeah, he was on my team in the semis”

“Semis for what?”

“Hide and seek?” Kevin said, as if it was obvious.

“Ah, I forgot about that. Uh, well, can you call him now?” Abby asked.

“Yes boss” Kevin saluted as he picked up the phone.

He hummed as he waited for the other line to pick up. Holtzmann stared at him, trying to figure out what tune he was humming. _It’s definitely a Wham! song,_ she thought.

“Hey Gabe! You make t-shirts still?” Kevin asked over the phone, “Oh cool. Can you make me like five shirts for Saturday? Yeah? Awesome, I’ll have my boss shoot you an email with the design. Thanks so much Gabe, see you soon. Love you too, bye.”

Abby looked a little bit flustered from the exchange she had just witnessed.

“Why did you say I love you to your t-shirt dealer?” she asked him.

“Did you just say t-shirt dealer?” Patty laughed.

“Gabe is my ex-boyfriend. We’re on a break” Kevin explained.

“Then why did you… You know what? Nevermind. Who am I to judge?” Abby shook her head. “Can you give me his email?

“Yeah, it’s GuyWhoMakesTShirts@gmail.com”

“Creative. Alright, I think I have a picture of the logo saved onto my phone”

“Abby, it’s your background, you definitely have it saved” Erin said.

“Good thinking” Abby said, giving Erin a playful nudge. She unlocked her phone and opened the gmail app. “So for the subject I’ll put GHOSTBUSTERS T-SHIRTS, in all caps, because that makes it look urgent.”

“Yeah but make sure to include Kevin’s name too, he’s the one who knows the guy” Patty added.

“Good idea, Patty. Alright, so, subject is GHOSTBUSTERS T-SHIRTS FOR KEVIN, and for the actual message I’ll write ‘Hey Gabe, this is Abby from the Ghostbusters. Kevin called earlier and he said you could make us a few t-shirts for Saturday. I have attached our logo, and we would like plain black shirts with it on them. Thank you very much’”

“Good, I like it. Simple.” Patty said.

“Alright I attached the image” Abby said, clicking a few buttons, “Aaaand sent.”

“Woo!” Erin cheered.

“Outfits are done... do you guys want to get dinner before the show?”Abby asked.

“Yeah I’m starving, let’s go” Holtzmann deadpanned.

“Holtz, I didn’t mean right now. Plus we just ate lunch like an hour ago” Abby sighed.

“I was joking” she said, looking down, “Dinner on Saturday is fine.”

“Alright, where do you think we should go.”

“Not Chinese, we have that like every day” Patty said, “I’m getting sick of it.”

“I agree” Erin added, “Maybe something by the venue? Where is the concert again?”

“MetLife Stadium” Abby said.

“Isn’t that in Jersey?” Erin groaned.

“Ugh, yeah you’re right” Abby made a face, everything sucks in New Jersey.

“Everything in Jersey is at least ten times scarier than any ghost we’ve dealt with. We should just eat early in the city and then head down, spend as little time in the devil’s state as possible” Patty said.

“It’ll be easier to get a reservation earlier anyways” Erin said, trying to offer some sort of consolation for the fact that they’d be kicking it with the eighty year old crowd wherever they went at 4pm on a Saturday.

“How about I cook something?” Holtzmann suggested out of nowhere.

Everyone looked at her, shocked. Holtz being wholly responsible for dinner seemed like a terrible idea, but the alternatives weren’t so great either, so they entertained the concept.

“You cook?” Abby asked, “I mean, nothing usually surprises me with you, but cooking?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s sort of like engineering right?”

“No baby, not at all. I mean this with all the love in my heart but, have you ever even cooked before?” Patty looked at her, eyebrows raised.

“No, but now would be a good time to try” Holtzmann shrugged.

“How about we all tried to make a meal together?” Erin offered as an alternative, “It could be fun, we could make pizza or something. Plus we’d finally use something besides the microwave”

“Yeah, I like that idea!” Patty said.

“Me too,” Abby agreed, “Holtz, what do you want to make since this was your idea?”

“Pizza sounds good and easy enough” Holtz said, and Erin nodded in agreement.

“So team trip to Whole Foods?” Erin asked.

“Yeah, let’s do it!” Patty said enthusiastically.

Abby’s phone buzzed. It was an e-mail from Gabe.

“Gabe says he’ll have the shirts ready tomorrow. Wow. He wants Kevin to pick them up” she glanced up at Kevin, “Can you handle that?”

“Yes, I can” Kevin gave her a thumbs up.

“Well, I think that settles the big things. We’ve got our outfits and dinner planned" Abby smiled, “Now all we have to do is wait for Saturday. We’re meeting Taylor before the show and she’ll tell us everything we need to know about our walk.”

“Sounds good” Erin paused, “Alright, I guess I should get some work done before then.”

They all knew no work was getting done for the rest of the week though, which was pretty much the usual for Kevin, but for everyone else it was an odd change of pace. Erin and Abby tried to make progress on their seventeen ongoing projects, Patty tried to do her research and Holtzmann tried to make new tech for the team, but every hour or so someone would bring up something concert related and a half hour digression would ensue. Sometimes it was about what weird poses they’d strike on stage, or what kind of dancing conveys the appropriate level of enthusiasm, but other times it was about little things like what pizza toppings they wanted at dinner. The general consensus though was simply that Saturday couldn’t come fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know everyone seems kind of hostile towards Holtz at times, but she's just a little awkward. They all love her, I promise. I think that becomes more clear in the next few chapters (which are nearly twice as long, woo!)


	3. Tied Together With a Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that very few people are actually reading this, but I had a third chapter written months ago, and I figured I would post it. Enjoy, or don't, it's bad, but I try.

The rest of the week somehow dragged, and flew by at the same time. Before anyone knew it, the day of the concert had arrived. Kevin had picked up the shirts on Friday morning, and the unveiling was a huge success. Abby clasped her hands together and smiled when she saw them. Gabe had done an amazing job, and free of charge.

“Gabe will do anything for me” Kevin said with a wink.

“Well, tell Gabe I said thank you” Abby told him, as she held up her shirt and admired it.

They all tried on the shirts with their favorite pairs of jeans, which for Abby and Erin were skinny jeans, Patty’s were cuffed jeans, and Holtzmann chose a pair of loose boyfriend jeans with huge holes in them. Erin tried out a few dance moves to the tune of ‘Style’, and then they all gave their best model walks with Holtz as their attentive audience.

“Love the pep, Patty.” Holtz laughed as Patty gave the most fabulous strut she had ever seen. “I don’t know how you’re going to top that, Abby.”

“Neither do I” Abby said as she began to walk with exaggerated side to side motions, “I guess I could give a little twirl at the end?”

Abby executed a fantastic spin move for the homies to which everyone clapped and whooped. Kevin walked over and put his finger on his chin.

“Can I uh, give a few suggestions?” he asked.

“Shoot” Abby told him.

“Watch me” Kevin walked down the firehouse floor, giving a fierce ‘hands on hips’ pose at the end of the theoretical runway. “I almost won America’s Next Top Model you know.”

“I never doubted your modeling abilities Kevin” Patty said.

“Thanks Patty. See, the trick is you just pretend you’re better than everyone, which is easy for me” he smirked.

“Thanks Kevin, I’ll keep that in mind” Abby said half-sarcastically, pointing to her brain.

By the end of the afternoon, everyone had mastered the art of the catwalk thanks to Kevin giving several helpful pointers. He told them he had learned his tricks from Tyra Banks herself, and after a quick google search, Kevin’s stint on America’s Next Top Model was confirmed. He really had almost won, he finished in third place. His elimination video on YouTube had thousands of teenage girls rioting in the comments.

Erin thanked him as he was getting ready to leave, “See you later! Thanks for all the tips, I’ll totally keep them in mind tomorrow” she whipped out the finger guns, and Abby shook her head, laughing.

“Erin, you’re a beautiful person. Never forget that” Abby said. Erin blushed.

“You’re all ready for top model now!” Kevin assured them with a thumbs up as he walked out the door.

Sleep didn’t come easily that night for most of the team, but for different reasons. Erin was too excited, Holtzmann was too anxious, Abby was too busy responding to trolls and Patty, Patty slept pretty well. 

Erin texted everyone in the group chat as soon as she thought they all were up, which was around 9 am. “I’m going to run to Whole Foods now!!” Erin texted, adding a smiley face before she hit send. Two seconds later her phone buzzed, Holtz clocked in first on the response. “Sounds good” she wrote. 

    Erin began to get dressed, debating whether she wanted to put on the t-shirt and jeans now, or change later at the firehouse. She eventually decided on the latter option and threw on some sweats for her grocery run. 

She checked her phone again before heading out. Patty and Abby had both responded. Patty complained about how early it was and Abby said to make sure to get the good cheese. “What’s the good cheese?” Erin wrote back. Abby responded almost immediately saying, “Oh come on, you know what the good cheese is”.

  Erin thought for a minute, unable to figure out what kind of cheese Abby was referring to. She was just about to ask her to clarify when Patty came in clutch with the “she means the expensive mozzarella”.  

Erin spent an hour at Whole Foods gathering what they needed to make the pizza. She bought pre-made crust in addition to the ingredients necessary to make it from scratch.  _ There is a one-thousand percent chance we’ll fuck up making anything from scratch,  _ Erin thought to herself as she threw the frozen dough into her basket.

After she checked out, Erin decided she would bring the food to the fridge in the firehouse and just spend the day there. She grabbed the outfit from her apartment and took a cab over. The fridge had a million containers of soup from god knows when that Erin had to throw out before she put anything away. Erin cursed Abby and plugged her nose as she poured what had to be month old soup down the drain. She heard the door open as she was putting everything in the fridge and jolted upright. It was just Abby, who was carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses. Erin breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jesus Abby, you scared me” Erin said. She looked at the clock. It was only 1pm. “What are you doing here so early?”

“I figured you’d be coming here as soon as you texted you were done” Abby explained, “So I thought I’d come keep you company. I brought some wine. It’s the good kind.”

“You know me so well” Erin said, taking the wine bottle from her friend. “Probably not a great idea to get wine drunk before we get on a stage in front of 80,000 people though.”

“One glass won’t hurt. Today’s a celebration, we deserve a little wine.” Abby set down the glasses, pulled a bottle opener out of her pocket and poured them both some wine.

“I’m so glad you’re back in my life Abby.” Erin said as she took a sip.

“Same goes for you, Erin” Abby opened her arms and went in for the hug. Erin embraced her warmly, awkwardly spilling a bit of wine down the back of Abby’s neck.

“Whoops” Erin giggled as Abby’s hand shot to the back of her neck.

“You gotta hold the glass straight when you’re hugging someone” Abby said jokingly, demonstrating how to hold a glass as she pulled up the back of her shirt with her other hand to dry off her neck.

“Oh well…” Erin paused, “Wait, where’s your outfit? You were only carrying the wine when you walked in.”

“I left it here last night, it’s in the bathroom” she told her, “Where’s yours?”

“On my desk.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Do you know what time Patty and Holtzmann plan on getting here?” Erin asked.

“I don’t know, I can text them, or you can. Doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll text them” Erin said, taking her phone out of her pocket.

“‘Hey guys - Abby and I are already at the firehouse, get here around three so we have time to cook’” she read the message out loud to Abby and then asked, “Three is a good time to start cooking right? Taylor wanted to meet us at 6:30?”

“Yeah she did, so that works. The pizza would be done around four and that gives us plenty of time to change and get ready. We should leave between 5 and 5:30, probably closer to 5 with concert traffic” Abby said.

“Okay, I’ll send it” Erin pressed send and looked up at Abby, “Are you excited?”

“Of course I am, this is like, the third coolest thing that’s ever happened to me”

Erin cocked her head, “What are coolest things number one and two?”

“Catching our first ghost and becoming friends with you”

Erin smiled, “Okay, that was cheesy.”

“But true” Abby said, “None of cool things number two and beyond would have happened if I hadn’t met you”

“Stop it!” Erin playfully punched Abby, she was blushing. “While being a professor at Columbia was pretty damn cool, meeting you tops my list as well.”

“I’m glad to hear that” Abby said, smiling at Erin. She would die for that woman, she was her best friend.

Abby and Erin sat and talked about everything they had been through until the others arrived. Erin’s hand was on top of Abby’s the entire time. Patty got there first around 2:45, her outfit in a bag in her hand.

“Hey Patty!” Erin greeted her as she walked in, finally removing her hand from Abby’s.

“What did I miss?” Patty asked.

“Not much, Abby and I were just talking about stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”  
“Just discussing our friendship and how far we’ve come as a team.”

“Aw I love it! I’ll join in. Remember when we uh, saved New York City from a paranormal apocalypse?”

Abby laughed, “I don’t think any of us are ever going to forget that one.”

Holtzmann sauntered into the firehouse at exactly 2:59, already dressed for the show. Abby looked at the clock.

“Holtz, you’re actually on time! Early even. We’ve still got a minute until three” Abby said to her.

“Being punctual won’t matter when we’re dead” Holtzmann said with a two-finger salute.

“Morbid, but okay.” 

“Should we start cooking since everyone’s here? All of us except Holtz still have to get ready, so we should probably get on that.” Erin pointed out.

Everyone nodded in agreement and Erin began taking out the refrigerated ingredients.

“Okay so I pulled up a recipe online for the dough” she told them.

“I don’t follow recipes” Holtzmann said.

“I think it would be best if we stuck to the recipe, since we have no idea what we’re doing” Erin insisted.

“Fine” Holtz surrendered, “But, I might add a pinch of something extra here and there”

“Go for it”

Making the dough from scratch went about as well as Erin expected it would. At the point where the dough was supposed to be of a doughy consistency, it was actually a liquid. No one had any idea what had gone wrong, but it might’ve had something to do with the fact that half the flour Holtz was supposed to add ended up on the floor and not in the dough.

“Good thing I got the premade crust as a backup” Erin sighed, pulling the store-bought dough out of the freezer.

“Thank god” Patty said.

They finished making their pizza and threw it in the oven. It was going to take fifteen minutes to bake, so Erin, Abby and Patty took that time to change into their outfits, seeing that their attempt to make the dough from scratch had wasted a good half-hour. 

The timer went off after fifteen minutes, and Holtzmann insisted on being the one to take the pizza out of the oven, not that anyone was too reluctant to give her the honors.

She put the pizza on the counter and everyone admired their work, it was a pretty good looking pizza. The cheese and crust were baked to perfection, but looks and taste were two different ball games. 

“We should probably wait a few minutes to cut it so it cools down” Erin said, after a few minutes of standing around she asked, “Did anyone bring a pizza cutter?”

“Uh, no. But we have plastic knives” Patty said, opening the drawer full of plastic silverware.

“Shit, is that going to work?” Erin asked.

“You never know until you try I guess” Patty handed her a knife. Erin held it up, looked at it and then looked back down at the pizza before attempting to cut it into four pieces.

“Shit” she said under her breath. This wasn’t going to work, they were cheap knives.

“Wait, I’ve got it” Holtz said, running downstairs to her work area.

“What is she getting?” Abby looked at the other women as if they would know.

They all had no idea.

Holtzmann came back upstairs with an exacto knife in her hand.

“Um, is that clean?” Erin asked. She wasn’t normally too much a germ person, she used to drink out of Kevin’s coffee cup all the time, but God knows where that knife had been.

Holtzmann groaned, begrudgingly took the knife over to the sink and washed it with dish soap.

“There, all clean” she said before using the knife to cut up the pizza.

“Thanks Holtz” Erin said, taking the first slice and putting it on a paper plate.

“No problemo.”

The pizza passed the taste test, the average rating from the chefs was four out of five stars, one point taken off for the lack of toppings. Erin apologized for that, citing the lack of cohesive opinion on the best pizza topping.

“Holtz and Abby like pineapple, but Patty and I don’t” she explained, “Plain cheese ultimately satisfies everyone. It’s simple science.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, avoiding the inevitable pineapple on pizza debate was a smart move by Erin. 

They finished up their pizza around 4:30, so they decided they would spend the remaining half hour touching up hair and makeup. 

“Am I driving to the venue?” Holtz asked around 4:45.

“No, Taylor paid for a car for us” Abby told her.

“Ooh fancy!” Patty said.

“Is it a limo?” Holtzmann asked, slightly disappointed that she wasn’t driving.

“No idea. Maybe.”

At around 5:05, there was a honk outside the firehouse. Holtzmann rushed to the door and looked out.

“It’s a goddamn limo you guys!” she yelled.

“Shit! We’ve made it!” Patty laughed.

Their driver Frank greeted them and opened the door to the car. They all piled in and found that the car was fully stocked with soda cans and mini water bottles.

“This is fucking crazy” Erin said, “But I love it.”

Everyone took a water bottle except for Holtzmann, who opted for a Sprite, and then they were on their way. The night was already shaping up to be a success.


End file.
